“You really kissed your sister when you were soulless?!” Dawn asked the vampire Harth, disgusted, wondering why this was the part of the story she was focusing on here when there was so much more to be concerned about.

But at least he didn’t seem too upset by her line of questioning, Dawn reflected. Instead, the youth looked at Dawn with a twinkle in his eyes, as if she were the most interesting thing he had ever come across. And Dawn couldn’t help blushing for that fact. …It was just that that was the sort of look people usually saved for Buffy and she couldn’t help preening, flipping her hair once.

“Yes, I did,” Harth answered, shaking his head to try and adjust his glasses once, with a calculating look in his eyes. “But please don’t repeat that to anyone else for two reasons.”

And at first, Dawn had to wonder what those two reasons were. The first one had to be the icky incest one, of course. But it took the Key a second to puzzle out the second one. The only thing she could figure was that it had to do with his twin sister, Melaka, being a Slayer. Like, maybe Harth was worried that if Dawn repeated the story, Mel would somehow be incriminated as the Slayer of the future? Because that would be one of the only things to draw a vampire to kissing a victim without killing them?

If that was what Harth was thinking, and Dawn was thinking it was certainly something like it, Dawn could get where he was coming from. Things had certainly been safer for her before people had known Buffy was the Slayer…

So Dawn would keep this very attractive vampire’s secret, and try hard not to think about how she might have been falling for another vamp, and that it really must run in the family.

No, instead Dawn would try to get to the heart of the matter here… which is what really mattered, since she knew the rest of the Scoobies didn’t exactly believe that Harth had a soul.

Faith, in particular, had been president of the stake first and ask questions later club, when Mel and Erin had first shown up with Harth.

Only Melaka—who was clearly a Slayer—with her testimony had saved Harth, the moment they appeared.

Actually, scratch that, Dawn thought now. Faith hadn’t been convinced even then, since she had once been an evil Slayer, after all. It was only when the clearly straightlaced Erin had explained everything to them, that the Scooby Gang had bitten. Though Willow had still wanted to do a spell, just to make sure.

And it was going to take a lot of ingredients, just to pull that off. And that was exactly where most everyone was right now: out of town, helping Willow get said ingredients. And Will had had to leave the city to get them, since she had inspired so many people in San Francisco to pick up witchcraft, that all the stores here were cleaned out of most everything.

At first, Dawn had been planning to go with Willow, because even if she was figuring out her Key powers some, she still longed to study witchcraft. But then there had been something so… tragic in Harth’s eyes, that Dawn found she couldn’t bear the thought of leaving him chained up in Buffy’s apartment by himself.

Not even Melaka and Erin were planning to stay with him. Erin, because she wanted to get all of this over with as fast as they could, so their brother could be free and they could then discuss what they’d all come to the past for. And Melaka, because she wanted to be a bit of a daredevil and see if there were any buildings here as high up as there were in “Haddyn”, apparently and jump from them, if there were.

So, Dawn opted to stay with the little vampire—shocking everyone as she said that, but herself most of all.

“Dawn, are you sure that that’s a good idea?” Giles had questioned sternly after she had made that decision. “I’m well aware that you know how to stake vampires. And that you’re not a child anymore. So, if you really want to do this, I won’t stop you. But if anything were to happen to you- especially when Buffy’s on a quest with Spike and Angel to try and protect you- to make certain that Ben hasn’t come back… well, what am I saying? Not only would Buffy never be the same if something happened to you… I’m afraid that none of us would be.”

To say that Dawn had been touched beyond words then would have been an understatement. And she had felt herself tearing up here, even though she had desperately fought against the tears and thankfully stopped them as soon as they had started. She didn’t want to look like a little girl, after all, since the point here was that she wasn’t that anymore and could do everything that she put her mind to and so much more.

But still… she had known then that if she still had her Dawn Chronicles, she would have later been writing about that very instance for sure. And here she’d used to think Giles and everyone didn’t care about her. Ha!

“I’ll be fine, Giles. Guys,” Dawn had tried again. “Now please get out of here. I have a feeling we have another apocalypse is brewin’ here. And the sooner we find out about that from our new friends, and don’t make them our enemies, the better…. Especially if it does turn out that- that Glory is back and we’re gonna have to kick that ass again, too!”

“You’re talking like me, girlfriend!” Faith said appreciatively then, stepping forward to give Dawn a high-five.

But it was either Dawn’s eyebrow having reached her hairline at that, or everyone else looking at her for her outburst, that kept her from doing so, and she instead uttered, “But I get your point, Little B. Enough with the fluff talk. Yo! Let’s blow this popsicle stand, everyone, and get this over with!”

And apparently not needing to be told twice after that, everyone had followed after Faith. Though Willow, Giles, and Xander did give Dawn some concerned looks before they had left. Dawn had also heard a few whispers of “be careful.”

And Xander, ever doubtful of souled vampires, had made sure to give her a stake. And Dawn couldn’t help but to laugh at that, and to remember why she had used to have such a crush on him. At least she would be safe this way… Even if she already had a stake taped under Buffy’s kitchen counter for situations such as this... not that he knew that. But now she would doubly be good to go!

But, anyway. That was how Dawn had found herself in this situation with Harth… that oddly felt the tiniest bit like a date, now that she thought about it.

Except that those thoughts… were really not of the good. And she tried to stop them instantly.

First of all, Dawn was not Buffy. She wasn’t!

And she was the smart one, damnit! She was supposed to know better than this!

This couldn’t work for a million reasons! Beyond the obvious reasons, Harth would have to go back to the future, like he was from that one “Back to the Future” movie, or something.

“So, what news do you bring us from the future?” Dawn asked, coming back to the present at last. And really, she had to wonder why she—or her friends too, for that matter—hadn’t asked this from the get-go (she knew Erin was dying to talk about it). If the time travelers had come back to the past to warn them of something, then it must have been something pretty dire. But instead of focusing on that, everyone was instead focused on how they thought Harth himself was the major threat. And perhaps he was, and Dawn was being “spun” here, as the siblings would have put it, but she thought the chances of that had to be pretty slim… right?

“I- I don’t know if you’re ready for that one,” he admitted, looking at her with a positively panicked look in his eyes. And he tried to push away from his seat at Buffy’s kitchen counter, but the chain kept him in place so he couldn’t.

Dawn frowned.

And, okay. If anything had Dawn thinking that maybe Harth had pulled the wool over her eyes here, maybe it was the fact that he hadn’t really responded to her here. It seemed like maybe there was no real answer at all, like maybe he had come here to kill them—was it possible that he had his sisters under thrall?—and he wasn’t even trying to come up with a good cover story.

And Dawn was about to say just that, as she slammed her hand down on the table angrily, because she had trusted him despite herself, damnit! Why did this always happen to her with vampires, when her sister seemed to have the best track record in the world with the ones that she fell for?

But just as she did that, Harth’s chain rattled, drawing her attention back to him. It looked to her like he’d been trying to reach his hand out to put atop hers, but had been unable to and it touched her somehow. Seeing that, Harth took a deep breath and seemed to begin telling her part of what he’d been reluctant to tell her before, Dawn saw. “Dawn, it’s- it’s bad. Just believe me about that, alright? I don’t want to completely crush your morale, before we come up with a battle plan against everyone, alright? I know! To prove it to you, I’ll destroy my glasses! Why? Because I’m blind as a bat without them, and I’m even more at your mercy that way. Why would I do that, then, if I wasn’t telling the truth, and trying to prove my honesty to you?”

And before Dawn could protest that action, Harth did exactly as he’d said he would—letting his glasses slip from his face and then crash down onto the black linoleum. He moved gently enough, that glass didn’t rain anywhere else but on the black linoleum, but Dawn still didn’t know if this was how she would have gone about things if she’d been him, as she breathed deeply.

“We’re… we’re going to need a dustpan. I’m going to go get that now,” Dawn whispered, somewhat lost here. And even though, in her eyes, Harth had just completely proven himself to her (she knew he wasn’t lying, because Angel, even as a vampire, needed reading glasses, and Dawn could tell that Harth was now having a hard time seeing without his glasses), she still made sure to walk backwards as she retrieved the item and to not turn her back on him, just to be safe.

Once she had it in hand, she swept the glass up and poured it into the trash bin, that she’d made sure to drag with her as well.

“Dawn, please say something,” Harth finally muttered, just when Dawn was starting to think the silence was impenetrable. And she knew it was her own fault that it had become that way.

“The problem is I don’t know what to say,” Dawn admitted, as she fiddled with the key necklace she’d taken to wearing, to try and remind herself that she wasn’t powerless—and never had been—and had all kinds of power at her disposal, if only she’d reach for it “You won’t tell me what we’re up against… and I guess I can’t blame you for that, Harth, given your explanation. But after hearing that Glory might back… Well, it doesn’t exactly make me feel great about things, but whatever. I’ll try to have faith in my friends and my own abilities to still win or some shit.

“So, I guess we could go back to talking about random facts about ourselves, but it’s kind of hard to do that an axe hanging over our heads.”

Dawn had no doubt that if she’d still been a pre-teen, it would have been at this point that she would have been having a major fit and storming out. Honestly, the idea still had some merit. But for whatever reason, she’d been the one who had volunteered to guard this dark-haired vampire. Though it didn’t seem like such a good idea to her now…

“Could you at least thank me for crippling myself to prove I’m not lying to you?” Harth laughed.

And at that, Dawn found that her lips did have to twitch into a smile some, even in this horrible, horrible situation. There was just something funny, and clever, about this guy. Dawn could not understand why he would make such a poor tactical move. Sure, as soon as Melaka and Erin came back, they’d make sure nothing happened to him… but what about her?

Harth was in a very precarious situation with her now, Dawn knew. Even with the cards stacked against him as they were, Dawn had no doubt that Angel nor Spike would have ever made a decision like Harth just had, to try and prove their own innocence. No, they would have found some way to spin things around in their favor. And that was why they were the two most vicious vampires in history.

But honestly… Dawn couldn’t help thinking that if she was in his shoes, she might have actually tried a similar thing to try and prove herself, but she would never admit it to him.

“I suppose I could do that,” Dawn allowed, very purposefully hiding her flushed face behind her curtain of long hair. “At least I know I have slightly less of a chance of becoming dinner now, if you can’t see me as well. A silly move on your part, though. Surely you could have come up with a better move than that.”

“I probably could have… but then you wouldn’t be trusting me as much as you are, with your hand on mine.”

Well, that was a red flag and it instantly had Dawn tearing her hand away from Harth’s. When had she even put her hand there? Dawn wondered breathlessly (but even as she was internally panicking, she didn’t miss the flash of hurt in his eyes, as she disentangled herself from him).

Later, she would realize that he hadn’t been leering at her, like in saying she was a fool for embracing him, a vampire, as he was about to eat her… But rather, he had meant that he was pleased that he had gotten a potential crush to like him enough to let him hold her hand.

But too late, the moment was gone and there was nothing Dawn could do about it.

“Would it help if I at least told you your friends won’t become evil again in the future?” Harth ventured now.

“It- it would,” Dawn admitted. But then she had to wonder why she was even doing that, for it wasn’t even something she’d thought to worry about, but now that she knew it was something that had clearly been on Harth’s mind, she wondered what kind of apocalypse they were really facing here. She had a horrible guess, but she wasn’t sure she wanted to put it into words and risk making it real.

But the only way you could be brave was when you pushed forward in spite of your fears, right? That was what Buffy had always done, so Dawn figured she could try and be like her sister and be strong now, if the fate of the world really was in her hands. Again. “What? Are all of our old enemies coming back to fight us?”

And the way that Harth didn’t say anything to that, but instead shifted in his chair awkwardly, was all the answer she needed, Dawn supposed. “Oh, fuck me!” Dawn bellowed, as she had to fight the urge to dig her nails into her arms and hurt herself at this horrid news. “Harth, forget everything I just said. Let’s get back to talking about ourselves again. I don’t wanna deal with this shit right now.”

“They’re probably going to be back here shortly…” Harth warned. “So there probably won’t be much time for the nitty-gritty.” And as he was real with her, Dawn almost hated herself for having hammered all of the horrors out while everyone was gone, since all of this was going to be discussed soon again, anyway. Maybe she should have just had a nice conversation with him, then. “But if that’s what you want, who am I to deny a lady?” He grinned then. And though Dawn knew she was waxing poetic with the next thought, and weirdly couldn’t help it… she thought that he probably could have lit up the whole town when he allowed himself to do so.

"So, I’ll tell you something about myself then, Dawnie: I once wrote a series of journals called the ‘Harth Chronicles.’ But you know what? Mel would tell me that that’s toy, and it is, so let’s just forget I said that, okay?”

Dawn was definitely confused by Harth having said that his journals were “toy.” And she was about to ask him about it, but then she figured it out. It must have been another weird future term, like how a “spin” was a lie. And judging by his tone, it seemed like in the future “toy” was something bad… for some reason.

Except that Dawn wasn’t letting Harth have that, because the coincidence here was too great. Slapping her hand on the counter once more, but for a different emotion this time as she stood up, Dawn exclaimed, "What?! Me, too! ...I mean, not the Harth Chronicles, of course, but Dawn ones. I had diaries called ‘The Dawn Chronicles!’”

And the crooked smile Harth gave her upon hearing this was way too cute.

Color Dawn surprised, but she thought she may have just found her soulmate... and during the worst interrogation ever, no less. Not a date.

And since her luck just couldn't get any worse today, it seemed, everyone chose that moment to return to Buffy’s abode—including Buffy herself and her boyfriends—so Dawn couldn't even explore this one silver lining further.

"Dawn!" Buffy complained, as she loudly smacked on a stick of gum. And if she was doing this without a care in the world, maybe she hadn't found Ben!Glory and everything would be okay for now, Dawn dared to hope? "Why is there a vamp chained to my kitchen counter and why haven't you staked him?"

Ignoring her sister completely, Dawn turned back to Harth with an eye roll. "Things are probably going to get crazy now, Harth... but  promise that we can have some semblance of a real date after this to keep me sane."

"I- I promise," Harth told her, not quite meeting her eyes.

And little did Dawn know, that said date would be one of their last moments together before they both died.

Author’s Note: Sorry for the tragic ending. But with Harth knowing about such apocalyptic things coming, I can’t really imagine it ending another way.

But if you want, you can imagine the gang goes back and changes that somehow. Especially if they have knowledge of future events before they happen and are actively trying to change them, and that’s why Mel, Erin, and Harth are in the past, anyway.

I may write a part two to this, for A) the gang interacting more and B) more Dawn and Harth goodness. I feel like I’ve only scratched the surface on both. Especially the former. Or maybe not. We’ll see.

Harth is undoubtedly OOC, since I gave him a soul AND since I feel like we didn’t see him enough for us to really know him THAT well, so what can you do? -shrugs- I hope he was still somewhat enjoyable, though.

I just couldn’t help thinking he could be someone good to pair Dawn with, since he’s one of the only people who seems about her age(?) in the Buffyeverse. And he seems smart like her, maybe?